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CenterPoint Energy (CNP - Free Report) is set to report third-quarter 2018 results on Nov 8, before the opening bell.

In the last reported quarter, the company delivered a negative earnings surprise of 6.25%. However, it surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the past four quarters, the average beat being 5.97%.

Let’s see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.

Factors Under Consideration

During third quarter, the company's major service territories witnessed colder-than-normal temperatures, which is likely to boost demand for electricity and thereby cause increased household expenditure for heating.This in turn is expected to have a positive impact on the company's top line, which should duly get reflected in the upcoming quarterly results.

In line with this, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s third-quarter revenues of $2,120 million reflecting a rise of 1% year over year.

In the second quarter, CenterPoint Energy's earnings benefitted from lower federal income tax rate related to the latest U.S. tax reform, utility rate relief and customer growth. This trend can be expected to continue to boost its third quarter bottom line as well.

Moreover, the company anticipates contributions from energy services and earnings from Enable Midstream to continue to drive earnings growth. Also, expected revenue growth from favorable temperature at its service territories, along with lower costs, should boost the bottom line.

In line with this, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CenterPoint Energy’s third-quarter earnings is pegged at 41 cents, reflecting an annual improvement of 5.1%.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not show an earnings beat for CenterPoint Energy this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both — a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) — for this to happen. That is not the case here, as you will see below.

Earnings ESP: CenterPoint Energy has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3, which along with an Earnings ESP of 0.00%, makes surprise prediction difficult.

Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

The Southern Company (SO - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.37% and a Zacks Rank #2. It is expected to report third-quarter 2018 earnings on Nov 7.

Atmos Energy Corp. (ATO - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +7.14% and a Zacks Rank #3. It is expected to report third-quarter 2018 earnings on Nov 7.

Spire Inc. (SR - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +2.06% and a Zacks Rank #3. It is expected to report fourth-quarter 2018 earnings on Nov 15.

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